The present invention generally relates to apparatus for cleaning floors, particularly to apparatus for cleaning floors which applies cleaning solutions to the floor and then extracts the soiled cleaning solutions from the floor, and specifically to portable extractors.
The operation of floor cleaning and the like is often accomplished by pulling the cleaning apparatus a short distance over the floor with the cleaning apparatus in a cleaning mode and then repeating this operation over the same area until the desired degree of cleanliness is obtained. The repetition of a cleaning and transport mode is often accomplished by the operator tilting the cleaning apparatus and pushing and pulling the cleaning apparatus over the entire floor surface. In cleaning operations where a liquid cleaning solution is applied to the floors and then extracted from the floor, such cleaning solution may be stored in the cleaning apparatus increasing the effort required in tilting the cleaning apparatus and operation of such cleaning apparatus was very tiresome for long time periods. Thus a need has arisen for cleaning apparatus which applies and extracts cleaning solution from the area desired to be cleaned which requires less effort to operate and automatically places the cleaning structure in working and transport modes of operation by simply pushing or pulling on the cleaning apparatus.